My point is most normal people don't buy $3,000 mics or $4,000 guitars.

Do "normal" people spend $2000 on a guitar? Most of my friends can't understand why I'd spend thousands of dollars on any one guitar when a guitar can be bought for a couple of hundred dollars. They'd think you're nuts for spending $2000 on that D35. You seem to have a lot of difficulty looking at a situation from anyone's point of view but your own.

I'm well aware people think I'm nuts for spending $2,000 on a guitar. But I know what it sounds like, I know the respect I get when I walk into a room full of other guitar players, I know this guitar will last me 40+ years, I know it has great resale value.

I'm well aware people think I'm nuts for spending $2,000 on a guitar. But I know what it sounds like, I know the respect I get when I walk into a room full of other guitar players, I know this guitar will last me 40+ years, I know it has great resale value.

Now replace the word "guitar" with the word "mic," the phrase "room full of guitar players" with "studio," and take a moment to consider that just like some people don't know enough about guitars to understand spending $2000 on a guitar, you might not know enough about microphones to understand spending #3000 on a mic. That's possible, isn't it?

Why would anyone know how much you spent on your guitar, unless you told them? Nothing bores me more quickly than random people prattling on how much they spent on their beloved whatever. A couple of weeks ago I was asked: "Is that an expensive guitar?" I replied, "Yes, it is." End of conversation.

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But I know what it sounds like, I know the respect I get when I walk into a room full of other guitar players.

This last semester, I had the exact experience of walking into a roomful of guitarists with my beloved guitar. I got no respect. Just a lot of curiousity. What is that? How long have you had it? So I got noticed, and that was a fun feel-good moment. But respect comes from playing well, and all the guitarists in that room played at least as well as I, and most of them quite a bit better. I don't envy them their instruments, but I do envy their ability. They get my respect.

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I know this guitar will last me 40+ years, I know it has great resale value.

Knowing the value of your guitar obviously gives you some assurance that you did indeed make a good decision, one that you won't regret. Especially since you bought a Martin, you can be assured of its resale value. And that's a good feeling. One that I don't have, since I bought an off-brand. And also because 40 years, I'll be dead. (Guessing that I'm older than you).

I bought my D-18 new in 1975...going on 42 years now. That guitar was deemed to be very expensive at the time I bought it, but it has proven it's value many times over, over the years. It was a bargain.